Essay Sample on Civil and Political Rights

Introduction

The world has come a long way when it comes to civil and political rights. They help protect individuals from intimidation and exploitations by Governments, organizations, and individuals. It is expected that every individual will enjoy these rights as enshrined in the constitution. A state has both political and civil systems that every individual ought to enjoy without limitation. Discrimination and repression are the major concerns when it comes to civil and political rights because this is the avenues used by governments and individuals to deny these rights to other people. Civil rights include helping people enjoy their physical and mental integrity without any form of discrimination based on color or origin. Political rights include the right to engage in political activities of a state and enjoyment of the natural justice provided in law. Civil and political rights have a long history and they keep evolving up to date. It has been a long journey for many states and their population. They form the basis on which international human rights was built on and has existed until today. Civil rights ensure that everybody is equal in the application of the law as well as political rights where everybody has a right to be represented and represent others (Harvey 100).

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

History of Civil and Political Rights

In America, civil rights helped end slavery.Black people were traded as slaves in some European countries and the United States of America until the 19th century. It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves but it led to a lot of conflicts with the southern America states who wanted to keep slaves to work in their farms. As slaves, they had no civil or political rights that they would enjoy because they were not treated like Americans. After freeing the slaves' American government enacted laws that recognized those slaves as Americans but they first enjoyed limited civil rights because racism still persisted. However, they did not enjoy the political rights as expected thus necessitating movements led by people such as Martin Luther King Junior who advocated for civil and political rights for the black people. By the mid 20Th century, the black people in America began to enjoy both political and civil rights because they were treated fairly and even anti-discrimination laws were introduced and they could participate in the political process too (Harvey 107).

Internationalization of Civil and Political Rights

The United Nations organization guarantees both civil and political rights for any citizen of any country. As the black Americans were advocating for the civil and political right, Nations around the world were uniting led by the powerful states such as America and Britain to push for this rights to be guaranteed for every citizen of any country around the world. America became a member of the international covenant of civil and political rights where it was agreed that civil and political rights should be enjoyed by every citizen of every country in the world. This was done nearly at the end of world war two in 1945. The United Nations Commission on human rights was empowered to promote human rights which included civil and political rights around the globe (House 32).

It was the wish of global leaders who supported human rights that all citizens would enjoy civil and political rights. That was not the case because countries in the Middle East such as Saudi Arabia still discriminated women and they did not enjoy both civil and political rights as it would be expected. The laws existing in those countries were skewed towards men. The journey has been long for women to enjoy these rights as advocated by the United Nations bodies such as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (House 52).

Despite the few cases of countries that do not guarantee civil and political rights for its citizens, the world has seen a general improvement and these rights are enjoyed by most citizens around the world especially the American and European governments who have promoted the enjoyment of these rights for a long time. Nations have now adopted constitutional laws that guarantee these rights in that nobody no matter how powerful can be able to deny them to people. Nations that oppress people to the effect that they do not enjoy these rights face sanctions among other consequences (Iriye et al., 62).

Conclusion

Civil and political rights in the current era are guaranteed in a written constitution and in some other jurisdictions such as Britain they are based on pronouncements and judgment because of the use of an unwritten constitution. However, it does not; mean that these rights are always a guarantee. Sometimes they are denied even with their existence in law. It requires active civic organizations and citizens to always keep reminding people and governments of the day that these rights should be enjoyed by all. Sometimes governments or those in power feel threated and they decide to curtail these rights for their own selfish goal of survival in power. It is the expectation that all citizens in all countries are allowed to enjoy these rights without discrimination and intimidation by governments, organizations, and individuals because we have come a long way before we got to a point that these rights are guaranteed in the constitutions of nearly all nations around the globe.

Works Cited

Harvey, Paul. Freedom's coming: Religious culture and the shaping of the South from the Civil War through the civil rights era. UNC Press Books, (2012),99-150.

House, Freedom. Freedom in the world 2014: The annual survey of political rights and civil liberties. Rowman & Littlefield, (2014),30-60.

Iriye, Akira, Petra Goedde, and William I. Hitchcock, eds. The human rights revolution: an international history. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press, (2012), 50-100.